


Father

by Silveryfeather



Category: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate
Genre: Brother-Sister Relationships, Child wanting to impress parent, Emotional Manipulation, Emotional neglect, Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, Half-Siblings, Manipulation, Time Skips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-21
Updated: 2020-01-21
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:21:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22345537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silveryfeather/pseuds/Silveryfeather
Summary: Little moments sometimes lead to big mistakes.
Relationships: Arbat-Elivat-Estoni & Estrid-Corill-Darrath, Estrid-Corill-Darrath & Ajaht-Litsom-Esth
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	Father

There he stood with his back to me, fiddling with yet another project of his. The clank of glass against metal, the sounds of a pipette clinking against the sides of a beaker, the smell of chemicals drifting through the air. I slowly walk forwards before stopping as I realized that he had a stalk on me now. 

He sets his equipment down before taking off his mask and metal weave gloves before dropping them onto the table. I could feel the fur lifting along my back as I felt what could only be described as an electrical storm brewing under my fur. But it was simply my father’s unfiltered emotions being broadcasted outwardly to me, making me dread his first words to me.  
  
<I do hope that is good news in your hands, Estrid.> My father’s deep green eyes narrowed at the tablet in my hands.  
  
<Of course Father.> I squared my shoulders as I prepared for him to see the final grades of my second season of classes. I wondered what he was going to find wrong this time.  
  
<Don’t call me Father.> He said absent mindedly as he took the tablet from me. He glared at me with one of his stalks as he looked the screen over.  
  
It had been months since he had last allowed me to call him father. This was soon after my mother died and I believed something in my father had died with her. He was such a kind father who would take me on flights on his ship and sleep with me when I was scared. My brother, of course, had other opinions of him but neither of them seemed to have a good relationship either way. But this new father I had... I did not like him very much. He scared me. He wasn't the father I remembered.  
  
<Of course… Arbat.> I stiffened further as he continued to look through my grades. I could already feel myself starting to shrink down into my fur while his face grew colder and harder. I clearly had the grades he didn’t hope for.  
  
<No extra marks?> He asked as he sets down the tablet onto his work table, his cold eyes focusing on my forcefully blank orange ones.  
  
<I have extra marks in everything but physical education.> I answered stiffly, trying not to show that I was getting nervous. Was he going to scold me or just send me off?  
  
<Then leave and have your brother train you again. Apparently you still haven’t learned your lesson from last time.> With that, he promptly returned back to his work and slipped on the gloves.  
  
I felt myself deflate as I took the tablet from his desk and slipped out of the room, tail trailing across the floor as I tried to figure how where I had gone wrong. Ajaht was in the main living area, cleaning off the desks with a face mask on. He disposed of random containers of grasses and extracts all while I stood at the entryway, leaning on a pole.

Father had always been hard on me but I knew it was because he wanted me to succeed. He’s always called me a genius, that I was a prodigy like he was. But ever since Mother had passed, I was having my doubts now. He seemed to have stopped praising me less and less. I wondered if he still believed in my abilities. 

<Still not pleased?> My brother asked, even bothering to turn a stalk in my direction.  
  
<I need lessons from you again> I said, snapping the thin tablet in half before tossing it into the electronic recycle that Ajaht had set up beside himself. The tablet sizzled and hissed before it completely disappeared within the container, becoming atoms to be reconfigured into something more useful later.  
  
<You know you don’t have to please him. He’ll just keep finding reasons to be upset with you.> Ajaht was now wiping down the table with a sanitary cloth. By his quick, sweeping strokes, I could tell he was starting to get irritated.  
  
<If I do not get high marks then how will I ever get into the field of science I want to be in?> I was starting to unconsciously pick fur off of my arm. A terrible nervous habit I picked up from my mother.  
  
<You’re brilliant Estrid, you’ll get in.> He puts down the towel and finally turns to me, looking down at me with all four eyes. 

<...> I wasn’t convinced of his words and just averted my main eyes towards the outside of the scoop where it was pouring rain. I was half tempted to just go out there and go for a run to clear my head.  
  
<Estrid, you might be related by blood to him but you really do not need to listen to what he says.> My brother steps around me and back into my line of sight. I felt aprehnsion at his words with a moment wondering exactly how much of that was true.  
  
<He is my father and I want him to be proud of me for what I have done Ajaht.> I said as I crossed my arms over my chest.

My brother’s eyes narrowed at me before he just sighed heavily, moving off to clean off another table as he does. It made me wonder if this dislike for our father had to do with the fact that his biological father was driven from our home by Father. After all, it was a fair fight and our mother had accepted Arbat as her new mate as well.  
  
<Just don’t let that desire get too far Estrid, you may very well end up hurting yourself far worse.> My brother darkly said, scrubbing some oil off of the table. He then added a lot more softly, <Our mother sure did.>  
  
I narrowed my primary eyes at him as he said this and then slowly backed away, ears angling back as I did. I stepped to the front of the scoop, looking up at the gloomy purple clouds above, still wondering if I should go for a run.

* * *

  
  


* * *

<Good, good!> Father stomp his left front hoof in approval as I pulled out my mixture from the cold and held it up.  
  
It had turned a deep blue instead of freezing. This meant the virus was able to survive even in below freezing temperatures. It took me nearly a month to perfect this strain of this neuro-virus but it was a success. With this, even in freezing temperatures, you can still catch this mind numbing virus off of surfaces.  
  
<You are getting better with your molecular mixtures Estrid. Perhaps soon you can even make a quantum virus with no problem!> My father praised, making me feel warm under my fur. 

I lifted my tail a bit but quickly lowered it lest I be scolded for getting too excited. <I could have done it quicker… perhaps I will with the z-space sensitive batch.>  
  
<Perhaps so, but at this point I believe you are ready.> Father stepped around me before carefully taking the vial from me then setting it on a stand. I could feel clouds of delight rolling off of him as he quickly walked to his bag across the room.  
  
<Ready?> I asked, confused.  
  
<Yes! Ready!> He pulled out a tablet from his bag and then slipped it quickly into my hands. The glow of pride in his eyes as I looked over the screen.

It was an order from the Electorate to produce a generic hoober reproductive virus for population control in the southern lands. An order… from the Electorate…

<I… I’m being commissioned by the Electorate?> I asked, stunned. Why would they want me of all andalites to produce a virus. They have hundreds of military scientists working for them but yet they chose me? It was nearly too good to be true.  
  
<I helped you get the commission through some of my connections. I believe if you show them how well you can do this then maybe they might hire you as one of their scientist. Think of that, the first female military scientist!> My father’s eyes were alight with the pride he had for me.  
  
But all I could do was stare at the pad in my hands, coldness seeping into my body. The military was never something I had planned on joining in the first place. I wanted to expand andalian knowledge on virus production and more specifically, viruses that reacted to the presence of z-space. I wasn't planning on actually applying them to actual creatures or making them purposefully deadly. That is what the military does, not me. I was not military. I was Estrid-Corill-Darrath, bio-chemical scientist and future leader of my field.  
  
<Estrid? Are you not happy?> His face had dropped back to that cold look he often had for me. I felt that electric storm brewing in my fur again, warning me of his displeasure with me. Considering how quickly he turned away from me when the storm brewed, I would need to act quickly. I couldn't let him ignore me again like before. I needed him as much as ever with my budding career on the horizon.  
  
<Of course!> I pushed away my disappointment and instead focus on how happy this was making my father. After all, he had done this for me. He was trying to get me to reach my full potential! I was going to be great! <I just… can’t believe it!>  
  
My father was smiling once again, his eyes curling into a pleased look. <I’m sure you’ll be great.>  
  
I forced a smile then dipped my stalks at him. First him allowing me to practice my field under him at the college he mysteriously started working at and now this? I should be suspicious but… this was my father after all. He just wanted to do what was best for me. I was a genius after all, why should I hide it?

<Thank you Arbat, I… I am so glad you have done this for me.>

* * *

* * *

I had done something I never thought of ever being possible. A virus that could disable a creature so easily. One that could wipe out their species. Just three beign particles I managed to fuse together to create a quasi-virus. One that was so programmable that I could make it so that it would attack only one species.  
  
The problem is, this wasn’t something I was planning on creating, it was all an accident. 

< _I need to tell Arbat._ > Was my first thought as the computer continued to spit out information at me, putting warning labels all over the data itself. Warning me what I had put into it was extremely deadly and I should destroy the sample as soon as possible in the particle degenerator. 

My hands shook as I stow away the virus into my pack before stumbling past the tables, practically running to his office. I ignored the glares I received as I ran through a crowd of students on their way to their classes. I practically slid down the ramp to the lower levels then bursted into my Father’s lecture hall.  
  
Students looked towards me with their stalks as they kept focus on my father’s holo of a formula to the bacteria creation unit’s interior. I sucked in a breath before rapidly motioning with my tail for my father to come here. He glared at me with his stalk then rather loudly said,  
  
<Excuse me, but it would seem we might have a rather rude interruption.>  
  
I ignored his jab at me and then stepped out of the learning-scoop with him. I then carefully uncovered the vial I had placed in a cold-storage unit. I looked up at him, noticing his unimpressed look.  
  
<It looks like just another one of your disgustingly simple pet projects.> My father stated as he reached for the virus.  
  
<No!> I slapped his hand away before carefully covering it back up, my hands shaking with nerves. I then sucked in a breath, looking up at him with wide eyes. <It’s a prion virus.>  
  
<A… prion virus?> He blinked at me before grabbing my arm. He then started to march me down to his private office next door to his class room. Once we were at the door, he roughly pushed me in with his eyes lit ablaze with anger. <And you brought it out here?! Did you lose your sanity?!>  
  
<I… I need you to destroy it in your generator.> I didn’t want this thing to exist anymore. I just wanted it gone before someone else hears of what I had done. After all, I was the niece of Alloran-Semitur-Corrass. They will be merciless with me.  
  
<No, you will be doing no such thing. You are going back up to that room and you are going to study it.> My father’s fire died down and now he was just irritated with me. <This is exactly why I had you work by yourself like that.>  
  
<W-What?> I fumbled with the box in my hands, surprised by what he had said. He didn’t want me to destroy it? Was he mad?!  
  
<I was waiting for so long for this to happen. I knew you would figure something out one day Estrid, just never this soon.> He reached forward, rubbing my ears gently while a smile played across his face. I felt myself calm as he sent his own emotional waves to me. He was calming me himself. <I am so proud of you.>  
  
<I… this… this is a good thing?> I asked once my hands stopped shaking and I was breathing in a controlled manner. I was calmed by my father.

He pulled his hand away from my ears and dipped his stalks, still looking rather pleased with me. He then looked towards the door then looked back down at me, smiling still. <I have been waiting for this moment to give you your next assignment from the Electorate. This time, you can tell no one about this, not even your brother.>

I dipped my stalks to him, my eyes widening as I wondered what they wanted me to do now. I had done several small jobs that were just either finding a cure to an off planet virus or demaking a virus for their studies. It was great work and helped me learn quite a bit about what I was actually working on. My father's jobs had made me excel past what I had been doing. But this...

<You are to perfect that virus and make sure it is programmed to kill the yeerks. They want this virus ready in a few months and you are to be shipped off with it to Earth to perfect it more. We are going to be going on an undercover mission. No one will know the real reason we are going there. If word spreads around, we may very well warn the yeerks of what we may be doing.> It was like a torrent of information coming from him. I was going to leave home or this _Earth and_ I was going to be using the virus I make on the yeerks there. I wasn't even sure how well this virus worked yet but I only have a few months to perfect it?!

<I…> I looked down at my hands at the cold-storage. <Arbat, that doesn't sound like a safe job. I'm...>  
  
<Estrid, understand when I say this-> He forced me to look up at him with a stomp of a hoof. I felt myself bristling from the electrical storm that were my father’s emotions again. I felt like running but I stay and listened. <what you are doing is for the good of Andal. With that virus you hold in your hands, we could possibly win this war with no more casualties.>

<But… we’ll be winning it at the cost of wiping out an entire species in the process.> I said shakily, trying to figure out how this was good. They were our enemies, they enslaved other species, my uncle was their slave... all of those reasons but yet I didn't think it was a good idea.  
  
<An entire species bent on enslaving others and us.> He crossed his arms firmly over his tanning chest. <The whole universe will thank us.>  
  
<... What exactly is on Earth?> I asked quietly, lowering my ears against my head as I steadily stared up at my mentor and father with narrowed eyes.  
  
<A species called Humans. They are a weak willed, foolish species that couldn't possibly fight those yeerks.> Arbat said with a small sneer. <But we are willing to at least attempt to save them. But even if we can't at least the yeerk invasion stops there.>  
  
<...> Humans... I have had studied them in class and they seemed like a rather backwards race. Only stood on two legs with no tails to balance them. Had odd programs that they broadcasted all across their planet and seemed to make horrid music as well. What did the yeerks want with such a race? Were they really that easy to take over? Why hadn't they been taken over yet?  
  
<Estrid, this is a job you can not turn down. If we succeed, our names will be added to those who had done great things for us.> For the first time in years, he draped his tail over my own. A parental gesture meant to sooth one's offspring.  
  
I felt the fur raise along my body again but this time there was no storm, it was a flood of pure determination.  
  
Yes, I had to do this. This would help speed up the end of the war and save millions of other species. But I would only do it if I could save the humans in the end. I had to perfect this virus and start by saving the humans. Even if it was wrong, the yeerks needed to be destroyed. They had already done so to many other species so this was only payback for them.  
  
I squared my shoulders, drawing in breath before curling my eyes into a smile. <My duty is to my people and if that means I must use this virus, then I will.>

  
My father smiled. <Then _aristh_ Estrid, welcome to the military. We will be leaving for battle in a few months.>


End file.
